


Timing is Everything

by HungLikeARainbro



Category: Red Dwarf
Genre: Aged-Down Character(s), Bullying, Canonical Character Death, Car Accidents, Drabble, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, just torturing baby Dwarfers as usual don't mind me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-30
Updated: 2019-06-30
Packaged: 2020-05-31 05:02:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19419022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HungLikeARainbro/pseuds/HungLikeARainbro
Summary: Young Rimmer has an encounter that will change the life of someone important to him.





	Timing is Everything

**Author's Note:**

> **There's been a new adaptation of an oldish manga that I liked and it reminded me of a plot point that pissed me off. It felt like extra drama just for the sake of it. I won't say spoilers other than that.**
> 
> **Anyway, Rimmer is all about the drama for drama's sake so here's bad things.**

The boy had long thin limbs that made him taller than the usual for his eleven years. His eyes were large, sad, and boggled slightly like an overexcited rat's; although his hands clasped together and wringing a couple of red napkins suggested worry or fear as his current emotion. He was the very personification of a newly-mated praying mantis.

He looked up and cringed when a man marched into the train station where he had sat for several hours chewing on the same stale cinnamon roll. The man was known to him. Known very well. The boy held up his shaking arm to signal his whereabouts when the man began to peer around the bustling hall in agitated confusion. Neither wanted to call out to the other.

The man spotted him at last and thrust his way through the crowd with little consideration. "How the hell did you get here?" he boomed in a voice that did not suit his short and wiry body.

"I don't know, sir."

"Don't know? Don't know?! Your school dropped you off with your classmates for a field trip in the New Forest and two days later you turn up at Liverpool Lime Street!"

"I'm sorry, sir."

"You think that makes it all better don't you, Arnold? Sorry. You'll be sorry when I'm through with you. Throw that rubbish away and come along."

Arnold wrapped his pastry up in one napkin, pocketed the other, and did as he was told. He huddled his coat around his body - the bullies that had tied him up and left him in the caboose of a cross-country train had at least been kind enough to leave that on him - and followed his father meekly. He was never going to get used to the biting natural winds of the Earth and he'd never wanted to get used to them. His parents insisted he go on every school outing to build character, learn skills, experience real wilds. Unfortunately the trips usually ended up with him abandoned on mountains or stranded in lakes or stuck up a tree evading predators. Trains, however, that was a new one on him. The bullies were getting inventive. Thank goodness for the diligent conductor that had bothered to check all the carriages before shutting the train down for the night.

His family and school had been informed but only his father was available to collect him. It was quite the trip from Io and Arnold had spent the best part of a day hanging around the station, bothering the guards with his curiosity and getting free food and magazines from a kindly stallholder. It had been the most wonderful time of his sad little life.

As the time drew nearer for him to go home, his appetite had waned as the anxiety set in.

After his father confirmed his identity as Mr Jack Rimmer with the station staff outside it was time to go. "Hurry up," said Mr Rimmer, looking back at him with small sharp eyes and tapping his wristwatch. "The shuttle is due in less than an hour and I refuse to miss it. I'll not spend the night on this Godforsaken paltry ball of mud if I can help it."

"Coming sir!" Arnold said eagerly and jumped through the doorway into the street next to him.

And froze.

Cars zipped past barely a few feet away. Arnold had lived his whole life on Io where homes existed isolated in domes and the only vehicles were shuttles safely encapsulated within tubes. His only experiences on Earth had been deep in what was left of the countryside. He had never crossed a road before. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew something about hedgehogs and green men and other than that he drew a blank.

"What are you doing?" Mr Rimmer snapped at the catatonic child. "It's just a road. Wait for a gap and walk, it's simple."

 _What gaps_ , thought Arnold miserably. It was just a screeching shining blur of angry metal and headlights in front of him. The street lamps offered little help on the dark night.

"Oh for goodness sake, let me guess - your mother still holds your hand everywhere you go, doesn't she? No wonder you're turning out fey." Mr Rimmer turned and stepped boldly into the traffic to show his son how easy it was.

Spurred on by the example and desperate to prove himself capable the boy took a deep breath and looked around. There seemed to be time. He was a good runner at school. He launched forward and immediately knew he was wrong. Some otherworldly sense that told him he had misjudged. _That would have been more useful before I crossed_ , he thought furiously. He could see the car hurtling around the corner and tried to step back when he should have kept going. He was more than halfway across. There was a sudden force on his back and he toppled forward onto the pavement. A sound he'd only ever heard in movies - the scream of brakes and a couple of thuds - tore his mind to shreds.

When he dared to look behind him there was the body of a man, his panicked bull terrier dashing over to him and yapping wildly.

The car drove off and Arnold crawled shakily to go check on his saviour when he was hauled up onto his feet by the scruff of his coat and pulled from the scene into an alleyway. Mr Rimmer's breathing next to his cheek was slow but laboured. For the briefest moment, Arnold was warmed that his father had been so scared for him.

"I don't think anyone saw," Mr Rimmer mumbled finally as he watched the still body carefully. "There should be no trouble."

"What?" Arnold was hurt that that was what had frightened his father, but mostly he was astounded at his attitude. "But Daddy! That man! He saved-"

Mr Rimmer sighed. "Ridiculous what some people will do for a stranger." His cold gaze turned on the boy. "Though if he knew you... he probably wouldn't have even bothered. A life for a life isn't always the fair trade it seems."

Ashamed, Arnold hung his head, listening to the soft brutal tick of his father's watch as it tolled the time of their shuttle launch. He couldn't make his father late as well. He pulled himself together as best as he could, wiping leaking eyes and nostrils on his spare napkin. They crept out of the alleyway and hurried to the space docks, the sound of a howling dog in harmony with the beat of their steps.

**Author's Note:**

> **One of my favourite stupid tropes is 'character not used to Earth/cities' throwing themselves into traffic. I'm not sure how much Baby!Rimmer would know about those things as it seems like he was very sheltered going only between home and school and Io looks to be only domed houses/estates with transport between. His brother had a car when he was older, but how he used it and where I don't know. Eh, I had fun anyway.**   
> 
> 
> **Also was Hannah a bull terrier? She looked like one in Lister's photo.**


End file.
